“Not that I heard.”

This was the detail that eventually silenced my mother more effectively than anything I could have said.

They had not merely misunderstood ordinary exhaustion.

They had been told someone needed urgent help and chosen to conceal it.

When Andrea explained the implications to us, she avoided promising arrests or convictions.

“There’s evidence of serious failures to obtain care and an attempt to misrepresent what happened,” she said.

“The authorities will evaluate possible offenses based on the facts and the applicable law.